WILD TURKEY. 
359 
to its full size and perfect beauty. It was procured in the 
month of March, on St John’s River, Florida. 
The young of both sexes resemble each other so closely, 
before the naked membrane acquires its tinge of red, as to be 
scarcely distinguishable ; the females, however, when a few 
days old, are somewhat larger than the males, and have a 
weaker piping note ; the males then begin to stand higher on 
their legs, which are stronger than those of the females, and 
soon exhibit the rudiments of spurs. On the approach of the 
first winter, the young males show a rudiment of the beard or 
fascicle of hairs on the breast, consisting of a mere tubercle, 
and attempt to strut and gobble ; the second year the hairy 
tuft is about three inches long ; in the third the turkey attains 
its full stature, although it certainly increases in size and beauty 
for several years longer. In a fine male specimen, evidently 
young, which I obtained in the Philadelphia market, the 
plumage is equally brilliant with that of the finest adult, 
although the frontal caruncle is only one inch in length, the 
pectoral appendage two inches, and the spur merely rudi- 
mental. The concealed portion of the plumage on the ante- 
rior part of the back is sprinkled with pale ferruginous, which 
disappears as the bird advances in age. 
Females of four years old have their full size and colouring ; 
they then possess the pectoral fascicle, four or five inches long, 
(which, according to Mr Audubon, they exhibit a little in the 
second year, if not barren,) but this fascicle is much thinner 
-than that of the male. The barren hens do not obtain this 
distinction until a very advanced age; and, being preferable 
for the table, the hunters single them from the flock, and kill 
them in preference to the others. The female wild turkey is 
more frequently furnished with the hairy tuft than the tame 
one, and this appendage is gained earlier in life. The great 
number of young hens without it, has no doubt given rise to 
the incorrect assertion of a few writers, that the female is 
always destitute of it. 
The weight of the hen generally averages about nine pounds 
avoirdupois. Mr Audubon has shot barren hens, in strawberry 
